


Make Our Garden Grow

by antonomasia09



Category: The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Podcast)
Genre: Arkady Patel Angst, F/F, Mentioned Violet Liu, Operas, Team Mom Sana Tripathi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antonomasia09/pseuds/antonomasia09
Summary: Arkady comes to Sana for help with an anniversary present for Violet.
Relationships: Arkady Patel & Sana Tripathi, Violet Liu/Arkady Patel
Comments: 18
Kudos: 33
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Make Our Garden Grow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tidelinear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tidelinear/gifts).



> Title is the name of a song from the Leonard Bernstein operetta "Candide."
> 
> Happy Yuletide, tidelinear! I hope you enjoy!

“I’m writing her an opera,” Arkady announced, flopping onto an armchair with a scowl.

Sana put down the engine manual she’d been reading through. The tech on the Iris II was all brand new and cutting-edge, and nothing Sana had ever seen before. Normally, she preferred getting a feel for how a machine worked by opening it up and poking around inside of it, but given their current fugitive status she felt it would be prudent to get an idea of what she might encounter before she accidentally shorted a wire and left them drifting in space. 

“You’re writing an opera,” she repeated. “For Violet?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I ask why?”

Arkady’s frown deepened. “It’s what people do when they’re dating, right? Give each other gifts?”

“Yes, sometimes,” Sana agreed. Not that she really had much experience, and Arkady knew it. Sana wasn’t sure why her friend still came to her sometimes with questions like these.

“But all I’ve got on board are weapons and my clothes, and we’re wanted criminals on basically every planet in the galaxy so it’s not like we can just stop somewhere and go shopping. My clothes won’t fit her, and Brian and Krejjh threatened to toss me out an airlock if I offered her a knife, so. I’m writing her an opera.”

“I see.” Sana didn’t, really. “Why exactly are you telling me this?”

“Because you play the guitar and I don’t, and I need accompaniment. It would be better with a full band, but as far as I’m aware, neither of the agents smuggled any instruments on board with them. And no, I don’t intend to ask.” 

“I’d be happy to play for your performance,” Sana said. As with most things in her life, her guitar skills were self-taught and relied more on what instinctively sounded right than on any formal music theory or ability to read sheet music. “Do you have a recording of what you’re going to be singing that I could listen to, so I can get an idea of how the music should sound?”

“No,” Arkady said. “I haven’t started writing the music yet. Hell, I haven’t started writing anything yet.” She groaned. “I’m doomed.”

“Hey,” Sana said. “You’re going to be fine. When do you need to have this opera finished by?”

“Two weeks from tomorrow.” Arkady let her head drop back against the armchair with a thud and another groan, and Sana resisted the urge to ask her to stop hurting herself. It never did any good — Arkady just got more subtle about it.

“It’ll be the six month anniversary of us getting our heads out of our asses and finally starting to date,” Arkady continued, “And Violet thinks we should celebrate. So I have to do something special.”

“Okay, then,” Sana said. She marked her page in the manual, and then set it aside completely. “Let’s brainstorm something special together.”

Arkady perked up a little at that.

“Tell me what kinds of things she likes,” Sana continued.

“Happy endings,” Arkady said immediately. “And so do I. None of that dying tragically for love bullshit.”

“Agreed,” Sana said. Everyone on the crew had already experienced more than enough tragedy and death already. “What else?”

“Uhhhh, science?” Arkady said. “But I don’t know anything about biology, and if I try to make something up, she’ll know exactly how stupid I sound.”

“I don’t think she would mind,” Sana said gently. “But if you wouldn’t feel comfortable going that route, then you shouldn’t. What kinds of things are you good at that she enjoys?”

She realized a second too late what a terrible question that was. Arkady folded in on herself, the frown back.

“All I’m good at is fighting,” Arkady said. “And I know she hates that. I still have no idea why she asked me out in the first place; if we’d met on some random planet, she’d never have given me a second glance.”

Sana reached out to grab Arkady’s hand. Arkady flinched away at first, but then let Sana catch it and hold it between her own.

“You know that’s not true,” Sana said. “You’re smart and funny and loyal beyond reason, and you know how to make a damn good cup of tea.”

Arkady gave her a trembling smile. “You’re just obligated to say nice things because you’re the captain.”

Sana shook her head. “I wanted you on my crew for a reason,” she said. “And it wasn’t because you were good at fighting; lots of people can do that. It wasn’t even because you were a Lander, although that helped. It was because you were a good person. Violet sees that too.”

“She could still do so much better than me, though,” Arkady argued. “If she wasn’t stuck with us.”

“There’s no point wondering how things could have been,” Sana said. “She’s here and she wants to be with you, and you make each other happy, right?”

“Yeah,” Arkady admitted. “I guess so.”

“Then that’s all that matters. But we still need a story idea,” Sana reminded her. “What about gardening? She liked your mint plant, didn’t she?”

“Did Krejjh tell _everybody_ about that?” Arkady sighed.

Sana smiled and refused to either confirm or deny her source.

“Okay, fine. Gardening,” Arkady said. “Can’t do carniverous plants; there’s already a musical about that. Maybe I could do something about… I don’t know. A special plant?”

“What does the plant do?”

“It…it can heal any wound. And it only grows in this one grove in a forest on this one planet, with just the right amount of sunlight and water and minerals in the soil.

“I like it,” Sana said.

“And there’s a bad guy that wants to steal the plant for themself, so the gardener has to protect it.”

“Krejjh?” Sana asked, and Arkady nodded.

“They did rock paper scissors with Brian for who would get to play the villain. Cheated, of course. They think they have a naturally evil flair.”

Sana snorted. “What’s Brian’s role, then?” she asked.

“Stage manager, propmaster, and costume designer. Krejjh volunteered to do the costumes too, but they still tend to forget that humans only have one set of arms.”

Sana smiled. “I think Violet’s going to love your gift,” she said.

“Really?”

“Absolutely. How many people can say they had an entire opera written for them?”

Arkady blushed. “I just wish I could give her something to hold,” she said. “Memories are fleeting.”

“Objects don’t always last either,” Sana told her. “And nobody knows what the future will hold. What matters is that you enjoy yourself in the moment. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I don’t think there’s anything you could give her that she wouldn’t love.”

“Thanks,” Arkady said. 

“Okay,” Sana said, reaching for her guitar, and giving it a few test strums as she tuned it. “Let’s get started.”


End file.
